leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it's a republican or a democrat. i've done it before, i'll do it again. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. . balanced budget. >> unemployment is to much at stake. >> the final day tonight on this election eve. the race for the white house still too close to call. president obama and mitt romney making a last push for votes. the plot a swing-state blitz. mitt romney in battleground virginia. >> i helped turn few might -- my state from deaf tight to surplus. >> after months and months of campaigning and debates, commercials, it comes down to tomorrow. you're watching the news edge, you decide 2012. our coverage starts now. thank you for joining us,

everyone. i'm brian bolter. tonight, president obama and republican nominee mitt romney are making 

. >> obama can offer and this is not the best america can have. tomorrow, we will fix this and get us back in the right track. >> less than 24 hours now to decide who will occupy the white house for the next four years. today is on the trail, november 5th, 2012. >> we want to thank you for sticking with us through that. we want to bring in right now

fox 5 political analyst mark. we want to look at the brand now "washington post"/abc news poll just out in the last hour and what do you make out of this and is there anything to be gained from the national poll? >> they showing him even or down and since sandy, there is a momentum. he has a chance to act presidential and in the national polls. he seems to be trending and doing very well. >> mark light, of focus on virginia today. mitt romney with two appearances in virginia. we saw beth parker, the vice president biden. how critical is this state and what kind of arguments have they made? >> there are three big states: ohio, florida, and virginia. ohio being number one. i think florida is a republican state with 29 electoral votes

and that is why they spent with ohio as 18 and that is why they have gone after the 13 electoral votes in virginia. hadn't gone democratic since 1964. linden banees johnson wanted it. sixty% he got in northern virginia. the bellweather counties or prince william and low den. he got 58% in prince william, in 2009, the republican mcdonald did very well in the southwest. the democrats are getting clobbered in cold country and they have to concentrate in getting out the african- american vote, which is very large, the same level of enthusiasm. i heard of all of the state battleground polls, this is a tie. it's going to be contested to the end. >> when you look at both of these campaigns tonight, the barack obama and mitt romney

facades, when the staffers go to bed tonight, what is the biggest concern for obama and romney? >> the biggest concern for obama is independent voters neither democrats or republicans. romney was way ahead. you remember, tom, i discussed he was doing well when he was at his -- nader and he's up by seven or eight points, and independents and what he has to worry, what romney, what obama has to worry about is rural white evangelicals. they're 26% of the e length rat. on the other side -- elect rats. on the other side, romney has to worry about the hispanic vote. he's losing by 50 points and the gender gap. women who seem differently, seems to me, about romney than white males. >> and people are clearly commercial weary after seeing

the ads and they have to be poll weary. the only thing they agree is is they don't know what is going to happen tomorrow night. when you look at the trend and the uncertainty of the polls, are we going to know at the end of tomorrow night? >> i said it before and i will say it again. i don't think we're going to know ohio by virtue of the fact that the secretary of state and i triedso tointroduce him. can you imagine, tom, he didn't call me back. john usted, the new catherine harris who support out applications for absentee ballots to submillion voters, we're going have 350 or 400,000 provisional ballots, ballots that can't be counted in ohio on election day, and they have to wait 10 days. we're not going to know what is going on in ohio. now, if the president does well everywhere else, maybe ohio

won't be necessary. and i press secretary we won't know the results. >> when you look at the combination of states, pennsylvania, wisconsin, ohio, virginia -- what, if any, can those four, can president obama afford to lose? >> i think he really can't afford to lose ohio. if he loses in other places. he feels that he can win in wisconsin and iowa. they think they can win in nevada. they think that romney's going into pittsburgh tonight. he was in philadelphia yesterday. they think that pennsylvania is a head fake, a faint. i think they realize that they not going to win, obviously. north carolina and indiana, two states they won before. they think there is a firewall in the midwest and the three states they want are ohio, wisconsin, and iowa and nevada and, if they win those four states, they'll be all right. they don't have to win florida and virginia then. >> one thing we know by tomorrow night, we won't know

the answer to any of those questions. >> exactly. >> we thank you. mark. as the candidates move on, mitt romney will end the evening in new hampshire and the president's going home to chicago. >> all right, guys. election officials in d.c. say about 52,000 people voted early this year. more than twice as early in the september 2010 primary and that is adding up to more than 10% of the population. comes with long waits, two hours or more in some cases. >> yes, we k. supporters of maryland's question four rallied. it would grant in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who arrived as children provided they meet several requirements. >> they have the ambition and passion and drive to be positive forces in their communities. and it's going to allow them to be those positive forces in the community. >> the issue got support from several state and local leaders. critics of the state say it will cost the state too much

mean. we're monitoring the election-day weather. sue palka has been tracking the storm system the last few days. could that prove to be an issue tomorrow, sue? >> it's not going to get up a full head of steam until wednesday, wednesday night, but tomorrow for the swing state of florida, i think they're going have some potentially moderate rain falling and some thunderstorms as what will eventually become our nor'easter is crossing the state and heading into the atlantic. that, by the way, will probably affect a few other spots, including the charleston area, maybe into columbia, south carolina, certainly savannah, georgia, jacksonville, all to get some heavy rain and some thunderstorms. now, large chunks of the country tomorrow for election day are going to be dry and delightful, including much of the western u.s. with the exception of perhaps the pacific northwest with a few showers. nothing they can't handle and there is going to be certainly a big swath of chilly air that we're going to deal with locally and some snow in the upper midwest. i think that snow will mainly

affect eastern minnesota. the upper peninsula of michigan and maybe a section of wisconsin which, might be also an important state to keep an eye on. a little bit of snow for those areas, potentially, and quite a swath of chilly air from the northeast to the gulf coast states. 92 is -- that is that area of low pressure that is going to be the nor'easter and that deepens again as it comes up the coast on wednesday into wednesday night and thursday. so, we're not expect anything precipitation locally from that. here's an idea of what we're expecting. of course, the polls open in d.c. at 7 and close at 8n. virginia, they open at 6 and in maryland, they are open at 7 and a frosty start for most of us. you might have to take a second to scrape the windshield if you keep your car outside. we are expecting rather widespread freeze conditions, so that means it will be a cold start for our election day. many places will be down into the upper 20s and low 30s as the sun comes up before 7. they at standard time. most of the day tomorrow,

though, is going to be sunny and on the dry side, our high temperature, upper 40s to 50 degrees and this is a look at the other high temperatures if you're going to be venturing out tomorrow afternoon. we'll describe it as chilly, although it will be a brighter day. it will range from the upper 40s in annapolis at 47 there and at leonardtown. to quantico. 49 here for the district. frederick about 44 and also expecting a temperature of 42 in cumberland. so, we're describing it as a chilly day. i mentioned widespread freeze warnings and i can show you how much of the area is impacted by that and that goes to the mason- dixon line and into southeastern virginia. this begins at midnight until nineteen error in the morning. we're expect our temperatures to drop into the upper 20s to low 30s. a chilly start for our election day, brian, but i think for the most part, while we don't want to see the nor'easter, it will be the timing for that will mostly be affecting folks on wednesday and into thursday. brian, back to you. >> all right, sue. we're watching the outcome of house and senate races throughout the country as well.

they can go either way. for a closer look beyond the beltway, cameron joseph from "the hill" newspaper joins us now. we talked last week. anything change? any races we see might be a tossup now? >> we're talking last week about indiana where the republican richard mourdock made comments about rape and abortion were not how he wanted to put them, got him in trouble. the polling came out there and shows the democrats are in a good position there and it looks like likely the democrats will pick up that seat in indiana, making it more likely that they're going to be able to hold on to the control of the senate this time around. >> are we seeing the backlash we expected early on now that it's really, it's game time decision, you know, within the next 24 hours or so. we're talking about todd akin and the richard mourdock races? >> both are looking unlikely to win this time around. richard mourdock looks like he's got a better shot, although the polling is not looking good for him. todd akin in missouri, claire

mccaskill, everyone thought she was going to be a dead woman months back but she is probably going to win that race. the polling is tightening a little bit there, more spending from the gop. outside groups got involved the last week and: zeros like -- looks like claire mccaskill are going to hold on. those were two seats the republicans were holding on to control. they were hoping to win back the senate. after the two societies were taken off the map, it's harder for them to get to 50 or 51 seats. >> and in the house, are we expecting the republicans to keep control? and gain seats, lose seats? >> democrats are bullish about taking back the seats they lost in 2010. they're going to picture up a few and going to be like three to six or 10 if they have a good night. that is not going to be the big numbers they're hoping for. part of that is the redistricting. republicans are in charge of the state houses and the congressional delegations. they got to draw out their own minds and pick their own voters, helping them in a lot of places and a neutral environment.

the democrats will have to get 53, 54% of the total vote in the house race to get back to even. >> and you were on the ground in iowa and south carolina. what is your thoughts there? >> i think iowa is going to be very, very close. i think president obama has the advantage, talking to a few folks and looks like he's in good position and that is going to be interesting. we're sitting on the edge in terms of the senate control and that is going to close in terms of presidential here in virginia and that is going to be, the closest presidential state and in that case, that means that tim cane is going have a slight edge over georgia allen. >> and when we see that in, let's take it in two parts, assume president obama win the house and the senate remain the same, are you get anything since error roar capitol hill that things will be different those four years as far as bipartisanship? >> yeah. >> nothing done the last few years. >> and that is going to be

uglier. part of the problem is redistricting in the house. a lot of the democrats and republicans, they got targeted by the drawers. we're going to so a lot of moderates on the both sides. and the senate side looks like there would be -- and he was talking about indiana. looks like he's in good shape and clare mccasile tends to vote. in maine, a moderate republican will replace the independent. there are a few signs of hope on the senate side. it's going to be pretty, pretty hard to get anything done the next few years and unless there is a force, too. going to get more polarized on the house side. it got harder to become a moderate. >> and the other half of that, if mit rot romney wince, will there be a hope for some breaking of the gridlock? >> i think it's unlikely.

it will be like the 2000-2004 network. george wish -- george bush barely won and it was not until 9/11 happened that republican his momentum to get anything done and in 2004, you saw the same thing. bush won a narrow re-election. not a huge control on one side or the other. and i think that as soon as we're done, folks will start the next election and there is a lot of folks angling for 2014 and that is going to be very, very tough to pass anything, really, and there is little impetus on either side of the aisle. >> and sounds like we have a broken system here. that is a question for another day. and what time do the polls open? we have what you need to know. the voter's guide is coming up next. pamela howze: it just seems like such an...

infringement on our lives. how dare they step into my life that way.

it's none of their business. he's trying to restrict us, again. he's taking us backwards. george allen is the last thing we need in washington. anncr: the democratic senatorial campaign committee is... responsible for the content of this advertising. . we have what you need to know before you go to the polls tomorrow. shawn yancy has more. shawn? >> reporter: hi, brian. let's start with voters in maryland. in addition to choosing candidates, you have to decide 17 ballot issues when you vote tomorrow. among them, question three, which changes the current rules for removing an elected official if he or she is convicted of a crime. question four, the dream act. it would guarantee in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. question 5 deals with redistricting. question six ask voters to decide whether to legalize same-

sex marriage and question seven asks whether to expand gamble negligent state and allow a new casino in prince georges county. to virginia now in addition to the race for the white house, the u.s. senate showdown between tim kaine and george allen will be the big race to follow. there are two statewide amendments. we want to give you a heads up about it. question one has to do with imminent domain and when and if your property can be taken from you. question two deals with the general assembly and whether it can delay the start of the veto session by up to one week n. virginia when you go to the polls, you must show an acceptable form of identification like a driver's license or a virginia voter's registration card. in the district now, the amendments to watch include question number five. it would change the way council members can remove a fellow council member for wrong doing. question six would force a council member convicted of a felony out of office and make them ineligible to ever hold the office again. question seven would do the same thing for the office of mayor. the big race to watch sate

special election to fill the council chairman seat. it was left vacant following kwame brown's resignation. the d.c. ballot is two-sided and last but not least, we want to update on you the polling hours. the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in d.c. and in maryland. now n virginia, the polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. if you have any questions after all of that, can you visit our website at www.myfoxdc.com for everything you need to know before you head to the polls. brian. >> we'll be right back. ocial security is just a number.

but to me, it's money that i earned. i count on social security. and i don't want washington politicians like george allen... privatizing it. if george allen wants to risk his own money on wall street... that's fine. but i don't want him risking mine. george allen just isn't watching out for us. anncr: the democratic senatorial campaign committee is... responsible for the content of this advertising. my name is julian bond.

i know a little something about fighting for what's right and just. maryland's gay and lesbian families share the same values and they should share in the right to marry. i believe people of faith understand this isn't about any one religious belief. it's about protecting the civil right to make a lifelong commitment to the person you love. join me in supporting question 6. it's the right thing to do.

. a final day on the trail for candidates. here's tom fitzgerald. >> reporter: we'll begin -- begin in our area. fairfax, virginia. the second of two virginia rallies, governor mitt romney argued that he would end the country's political division. >> i am maureen umeh with the mitt romney campaign in fairfax county, virginia, where a rally wrapped up here at george mason's university patriot center. governor romney trying to whip supporters into a friendy and succeeding in doing that and trying to win the undecided voters in these last hours of the deadlocked race. >> you hope that president obama would live up to his promise to bring people together. so tosolve big problems. he hasn't. i will. [ applause ] >> in the land of hope. >> reporter: to madison,

wisconsin, now. bruce springsteen joining president obama for one of his largest rallies yet in the state that the president said is critical to his re-election. >> the choice between returning to the topdown policies that crashed our economy or a future that is built on providing opportunity to everybody in growing a strong middle class. >> we had back -- head back to our area in the commonwealth. that is where vice president joe biden made the democratic ticket's last stops in the state. i'm beth parker in sterling, virginia. this is the spot where virginia turns from red to blue and joe biden made it clear to the crowd just how much barack obama needs them. >> we need you, virginia! with your help, we will win virginia, we win virginia, we win this election! >> reporter: finally, we go to reno, nevada, that is where republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan told a crowd that they and voters in key swing states, will decide

the winner and loser. >> we can do better than this. this may be the best that barack obama can offer but this is not the best america can have. tomorrow, we will fix it and get us back on the right track. >> reporter: less than 24 hours now to decide who will occupy the white house for the next four years. today on the trail, november 5th, 2012. and here we are after all of the speeches, after all of the rallies, after the primaries, after the debates -- debates, it comes down to tonight and ultimately to the decision tomorrow. both of the candidates literally crisscrossed each other at some points today in the state of ohio and the city of columbus. they will end tonight in their respective hometown. for president obama, that would be chicago, illinois, where he will talk to his supporters, win or lose tomorrow. the same for mitt romney and in boston, massachusetts, brian by this time tomorrow night, we will probably still not know who won but at least we'll be further along the path than we

were right now. >> and we have about 20 seconds here, tom. have either campaigns started lining up lawyers in case it's as close as we expect? >> actually and in all seriousness, brian, they have throughout all 50 states, there are challenged lawyers hired by the attorneys, especially in ohio tonight. we can expect to so legal action if that vote tonight gets critical and ohio is the bell weather of deciding the entire thing. >> tom fitzgerald tonight. is it for us on the news edge special, you decide 2012. back here at 10 on the news edge at 11. as always. hope to see you then.